AUSTRALIAN herpetologists have been warning for some time that frogs are in
serious decline across the country. Why they are disappearing remains a
mystery.
Now frog numbers appear to be declining across the Tasman as well. The
Department of Conservation in New Zealand has been receiving reports from
landowners that they are spotting fewer frogs. A research team headed by Bruce
Waldham, a zoologist from the University of Canterbury, is about to start
investigating possible causes of the decline.

The researchers will monitor weather and levels of ultraviolet radiation at
frog habitats around the country. It is possible that frogs cannot cope with
increased UV radiation from the sun, caused by depletion of ozone in the
Earth’s
atmosphere.

Waldham and his colleagues—Phillip Bishop from Canterbury and Alistair
Freeman from Lincoln University—will also test water samples near
breeding
sites for pesticide residues. These residues, with components similar to frog
hormones, may be entering the water and affecting frog reproductive
systems.

This idea of so-called hormonal mimics affecting both humans and animals has
been advanced forcefully by environmentalists in the northern hemisphere
recently. The claim is that constant exposure to synthetic chemical
compounds is
disrupting reproductive, immune, nervous and endocrine systems by mimicking
hormones and blocking their action. The case against chemical residues was put
forward by the World Wide for Fund for Nature at last month’s meeting in
Brisbane of 93 signatories to the Ramsar convention on wetlands (seelast week’s Antipodes).

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WWF representatives claimed that amphibians, fish, marine mammals, turtles,
alligators and humans in various parts of the world have been affected. Their
arguments helped pass a series of resolutions aimed at reducing the amount of
toxins entering wetlands. The convention’s scientific and technical panel will
review the impact on wetlands of toxic chemicals, in particular those which
disrupt endocrine systems, and report back to the next meeting of Ramsar in
Costa Rica in three years.

But regardless of whether or not hormonal mimics are at work in New Zealand,
some interesting observations have been made already. Some species of frog
introduced from Australia, such as the golden bell frog, seem to be surviving
better in New Zealand than in their homeland. Waldham thinks the reason may be
related to differences in life cycle. The introduced species have relatively
short life spans and breed annually, whereas some native frogs live as long as
20 years and breed less frequently.

Waldham told New Zealand Science Monthly this month that what is
happening to the frogs is a warning to humans. “Their sudden disappearance may
signal impending danger to our ecosystem and to ourselves,” he said. A sobering
thought.

AN idea bubbling away within the group Australian Science Communicators is a
one-stop science calendar—a listing on the Net of virtually all
forthcoming meetings and events to do with science and technology. The
electronic calendar, with listings up to a decade in advance, would have
contact
names and numbers, registration information, and a description of the
event. The
idea has been taken up by the Federation of Australian Science and Technology
Societies. That’s hardly surprising given that FASTS executive director, Tos
Gascoigne, is also vice-president of ASC.

FASTS has tried to interest Science Minister Peter McGauran in the
idea—presumably to get some funds to make it possible. But McGauran is
lukewarm. Pity. It’s impossible to keep track of all that is on. One reliable
source would make life a lot easier.

McGauran was more receptive to another proposal—working with
FASTS, the
Academy of Science and the Academy of Technological Science and Engineering to
develop a national science and technology strategy. There was general
disappointment with the previous government’s Innovation Statement
released last
December. It may have contained some good ideas but there was no overall sense
of direction or vision. The lobby groups would like to see this situation
rectified. The topic is likely to become a major theme at the ANZAAS
congress in
Canberra in early October.

The trick will be to get the government to give such a strategy the
attention
it deserves. Barry Jones developed a comprehensive science and technology
strategy ten years ago, but it was sabotaged by economists in the federal
bureaucracy. I don’t think the climate is any better today for an integrated
package of policy measures.

AUSTRADE, the Australian government’s trade and export organisation, has
developed a Web-based global trading system, TradeBlazer. The system
will link all of Austrade’s trading posts worldwide and provide an on-line
information resource for exporters. Australian product and service companies
have been offered a free listing with hypertext links to their own home pages.
About 2 700 companies are already listed. Such initiatives should boost smaller
companies.

Ironically this comes at a time when the new Howard government is
talking about cutting a range of schemes designed to support small to
medium-sized firms. The Australian Manufacturing Council is to be abolished.
More cuts will follow if the government implements its pre-election threat of
pruning &dollar;100 million from the budget of the Department of Industry,
Science and Technology.